Photo Challenge Day 7

A photo of someone you miss:
I absolutely love these two girls. Kimothy (on the left and no her name is not actually Kimothy its Kimberly) is currently getting her PhD at the RAND Institute in California, Kristen (middle) is stationed at Lakenheath. Even though we're in the same country, I don't seem Kristen nearly enough and, considering Kim lives super far away, I never see her enough. I miss seeing them every day.

Kristen and I have been close since the night before Basic Training (we were in the same tent during Basic and our squadrons were right next to each other all four years) but we really started getting close to Kim the summer after our second year. There are certain things I will always remember about these two girls:
-Big Girls Don't Cry
-Chick-fil-A
-The Hannah Montana Movie (and quest for soundtrack)
-The harrowing and terrifying drive through the Colorado forest with zero visibility
-Snake-in-the-grass and FK
-Mama-Mia and TP-ing Coach Friend
-Germany during our Jr year summer
-Eric Church concert (where this photo was taken)
-Pasta night at Mitch's
-Cutting the cake at our Grad party
-Trying to teach Kristen how to snowboard
-So so so much more

I wouldn't have made it through the Academy without these two girls.

MISS YOU GUYS!! xx

Photo Challenge Day 6

A photo of someone you love:

Its gotta be the sisters huh? These three girls (well, I guess 4 if you include myself) are incredible and I love them to death. I would not be the person I am today without them and I truly don't know what I would do without them. For those who don't really know my sisters, a little about them. From the left:
Shiri (age 20): Jr (3rd year) at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. Double major in politics and religion, minor in poverty studies. Total and complete do-gooder who is going to change the world for the better. Shiri and I have always been incredibly close and we shared a room for 10 years growing up.
Me (duh)
Michal (age 26): Professor at her alma mater The College of Idaho. Studied history. Michal lived with me in Oxford for about 6 months last year which was really fun. She's the musician of the family (which, in a family of musicians is pretty impressive) playing the cello, piano, singing, even teaching herself the guitar just for kicks. Great older sister to follow.
Youval (age 18): Freshman (1st year) at Denver University in Colorado. The baby of the family, Youval is studying International Relations and a part of a leadership program in Uni. Having been in the shadow of 3 older sisters her whole life, its really exciting for me to see her in a new environment and come into her own. Youval and I traveled around England this past summer which was so much fun.

There you have it, my amazing sisters. Love them more than I could possibly say!!

Photo Challenge Day 5

A photo that makes you laugh:
There is SOOOO much about this photo that is amazing. Not only what it shows but the memories it brings up:
-Ian and Neal belting the National Anthem out the windows while driving from Neal's house to mine
-The epic Beer Pong matches that resulted in far too much profanity for my neighbor's liking
-Ian's incredible dancing and air guitar skills
-An amazing insight into the American male psyche for all my British teammates
-So much more

I cannot go any further though without bringing attention to Ian's jorts... oh my word. Also, let us not forget that the entire evening was punctuated by Ian's shots of "I'm wearing jorts!" for any and all who were listening/within earshot.

Oh what a night! Miss you boys! xx

Photo Challenge Day 4

A photo of a place I'd like to visit: Barcelona

And the Camp Nou:

I've been told that Barcelona is an incredible city and that the Camp Nou is the mecca of football stadiums. Both good reasons to go there for sure. Not sure I'll have time to visit the city before I leave the UK (played too much football, not enough traveling) but hopefully I'll be back in Europe for an assignment and I'll be sure to head to Barcelona when I can!

Photo Challenge Day 3

A photo that makes you happy:


This photo makes me smile every time I see if. As a short explanation, on the main terrazzo area of the Air Force Academy there are 2 fountains. Every day, several times a day, we walk past these fountains with one goal in mind: following your final exam in your final semester, tradition dictates that you jump into the fountains in your full uniform to celebrate finishing your academic career. Kristen and I jumped into the fountain together and despite the fact the water was really cold and the Colorado air wasn't doing us any favours, it was AMAZING! The massive smiles on our face cannot begin to demonstrate how excited we were but seeing this photo puts that same sized smile on my face every time I see it.

Photo Challenge Day 2

A photo of yourself at least a year ago:

I tried to find out that was almost exactly a year ago but didn't have any good ones so this is from February of last year. Its from the trip Michal and I took to Ironbridge where we learned more than we ever wanted to know about Abraham Darby and his family. If you'd like to know more about it, please check out my sister's lovely blog describing the day:
http://michalryadlin.blogspot.com/2010/02/day-of-iron-and-coal.html

30 Day Photo Challenge

Hello all. So basically, unless something really fun (like a massive football game against Cambridge) or something really crappy (like a broken bone) happens in my life I seem to neglect blogging about it. So, as a way to perhaps remedy this, I have decided to steal Michal's 30 day photo challenge idea. This will keep me connected to this blog and perhaps remind me to post stuff, as well as perhaps give a bit more insight into what I'm doing/whats happening in my life. So yeah, here are the 30 days (along with the photo for day 1). Also I just realized that 30 days from now is my birthday, so thats very fitting as well!

Day one: a photo of you.

This photo was taken in Morocco last August. I went with a bunch of my football teammates for a surfing holiday and it was an incredible week. I had an amazing time with these girls that have become my family over here. Such awesome memories, there's a reason I look so happy in the shot!

Day two: a photo of yourself at least a year ago.

Day three: a photo that makes you happy.

Day four: a photo of a place you’d like to visit.

Day five: a photo that makes you laugh.

Day six: a photo of someone you love.

Day seven: a photo of someone you miss.

Day eight: a photo of your favorite band/musician.

Day nine: a photo of yourself when you were a baby/child.

Day ten: any photo you like for any reason.

Day eleven: a photo of a night you loved.

Day twelve: a photo of when you were happy.

Day thirteen: a photo of one of your favorite movies.

Day fourteen: a photo of your best friend (s).

Day fifteen: a photo of you and a family member.

Day sixteen: a photo from your childhood.

Day seventeen: a photo from a trip you’ll never forget.

Day eighteen: a photo of your town.

Day nineteen: a photo of last summer.

Day twenty: a photo of something you ate today.

Day twenty-one: a photo of somebody you find attractive.

Day twenty-two: a photo that you associate a good memory with.

Day twenty-three: a photo of something you want to do someday.

Day twenty-four: a photo of what you want to be when you grow up.

Day twenty-five: a photo that inspires you.

Day twenty-six: a photo of your favorite subject in school.

Day twenty-seven: a photo of something you are looking forward to.

Day twenty-eight: a photo of something/somebody that made your day.

Day twenty-nine: a photo of your favorite person from history.

Day thirty: a photo you find beautiful

The saga that is my broken thumb

So, here's the deal. Up until last Wednesday, I had every intention of flying to Israel on Sunday 17 April to spend Pesach with my Israeli family and my sister who is studying in Jerusalem for the semester. Then on Wednesday I played 5-a-side football and the ball was kicked into my thumb. It swelled up massively and was significantly bruised so on Thursday morning I went first to my GP and then to the hospital to get it looked at.

Turns out, I had a crack in the proximal phalanx (the bottom of the two thumb bones) and was put in a plaster and told to come back the next day to be looked at by the hand clinic. They said they might need to do a small operation.

Friday morning I go to the hand clinic and am told that I need an operation and the earliest it can be is Monday. I explained to them that I was meant to travel to Israel and they said I could take the risk of not having surgery but with that risk came an increased change of further (and possible) irreparable damage to my thumb. Because I kinda need my right thumb (as Tommy noted, its my trigger finger) I decided that it wasn't worth the risk to not have the surgery and therefore postponed my trip to Israel to Wednesday.

So I go into the hospital this morning for the surgery and my surgeon tells me "Well, looking at your xrays from today and from Thursday, the bone hasn't moved at all and its actually in a really good position. We don't think you need surgery at all and in fact we're just going to put you in a full plaster and have you come back on Thursday for another xray to make sure its still in place and you haven't done any damage. Again, I explained the situation and she told me that, were it her, she would NOT go to Israel and she would stay here to insure I get the proper treatment and don't cause any damage. Were I to go to Israel I would be put into a plaster with a cut down the middle that would allow for swelling that might occur on an airplane. However, this (as well as the fact that when traveling I would need to handle baggage and whatnot) would increase the risk of something happening and the bone slipping. So her opinion would be to not go to Israel.

After much deliberation I realized that, since I had already missed Pesach and wouldn't be there for the holiday to begin with, there was really no reason to go to Israel this week and risk the chances of something happening when I could just as easily change my flights (AGAIN) and go sometime in May when I don't have a freshly broken bone.

So, right now I have a lovely light blue plaster on my hand that will probably be on for 4-6 weeks. Hopefully next month I will make it to Israel. That is my explanation of the shenanigans that occurred with my ridiculous broken thumb. Now if anyone asks I can just refer them to this blog post.